For those of you who have been around Windows Phone for a long time, you should know of Weave news reader as it’s been one of the hallmark apps on our platform since the beginning. Always fast and fluid, the app was an exceptional RSS reader and we always recommended it.

Starting with the last update and now version 8.0 just released today, Weave is now more than just RSS as it’s a professionally run service that goes beyond just ripping feeds from sites. That’s the reason for its seemingly high $9.99 price tag (don’t worry, there’s a free ad-supported version too). No doubt that is a lot of bread but the reason may be worth it if you’re a news feed junkie.

Weave doesn’t just pull RSS feeds but rather articles go through their servers first which reformat it, remove excess HTML coding, prep YouTube videos for viewing and make the article format universal and flawless. End result? You get low-bandwidth usage, fast loading articles with superb formatting for mobile use. You see a video image? Just tap and play. As far as we know, no other app on Windows Phone does all of that and its those server costs that result in a higher app price tag.

With version 8.0, Weave is finally a full native WP8 app. That means a doublewide tile, Lockscreen image support, a massive increase in performance, higher resolution graphics and more features. One of the neat features we really dig is the ability to read an article back by tapping a button—the experience is fluid and we really like the little graphic while the app is speaking. Lockscreen support is neat as is pulls down images from the latest headlines (you do have to wait until it updates though, so it’s not “instant”).

One knock is the independent Live Tiles though—as you can pin each category to your screen but their images will all be the same, as opposed to reflecting each category. However, we’re sure that’s a simple oversight and could easily be addressed in a future update.

Speaking of categories that’s one neat feature of Weave as it has pre-selected news sources for various topics. That means you won’t start with an empty news reader as the app will populate with various news stories from top-rated sites. Want to add your own feeds? Go right ahead as the app allows you to add or delete any news feed on the fly.

Weave has always been a great app and with version 8.0 (paid and free), the app continues to be a shining example of an excellent news reader. It’s fast, fluid and just looks gorgeous on our Windows Phone 8 devices. For that reason, we have to give it a thumbs up.

Pick up Weave ($9.99) here in the Store or give the ad-supported free version here a spin if you just want to try it out.

Windows Phone 8 only and previous purchases are updated for free.

[Note to our app users: When you go to use the download links, the app names won't be pulled. It's a change from Microsoft and we'll have it patched in the next app update. For now, you'll just have to try each link to see if it's the free or paid version]

You would think/assume that developers try and determine a price point that will benefit them the most. For example, maybe they sell 10 a month at $10, totaling $100. But if the price was say $1.99, they would have to sell 50 a month. It is obvious they are not selling as many as they could due to the current price. I would imagine that $2 or $3 would generate more income based on the number of reviews, the "thumbs up" from WP Central, and due to the fact there is a free ad supported version. There are a lot more users out there now, coming from iphone and android, so many users I assume would be reluctant to purchase such an expensive app.

I want to buy it but not for 10 bucks...I don't care if its a professional service or not...10 bucks for an (admittedly) awesome RSS app is still too much in my opinion when there is a free ad supported version and a billion alternatives that are also pretty good.

I have bought at least 20 apps that I NEVER EVER use simply to support the dev for doing a great job witha certain app and I'm ready to pay like 2-3 bucks if this app was available in that price range. But as I said, at 10 bucks when it used to be 1,99, its a pretty steep increase.

We are not comparing it to coffee fellow adult. We are comparing it to the fact it is triple the price of expensive games on wp. Quintuple the price of an average app. And ten times more expensive then the cheap apps or games. By that standard, yes it is a considerable expense.

Why does everyone compare something to starbucks, it amazes me, like everyone drinks that overpriced crap.
I went to starbucks once it's overrated and expensive, I make better coffees at home for 100% less money. I still wouldn't buy this app cause it's not value for money.

Doesn't Weave just use a mobiliser like Instapaper or Readability for that article formatting? Nothing amazing in that, isn't their work and other RSS readers provide that option. If it cached the mobilised sites, then it would be something.

It's $10 because they know they have a very small user base. They want to get as much revenue possible with the small amount of users that are available. The 'server costs' argument is baseless. If that were true then something like Rowi would cost $50

I downloaded the free version for my Lumia 900, 2 days ago. Layout is fine, and the ads are not a big deal. But given the sources used for the news, I can't see myself paying for this app. The sources are too obscure and not well know to me except for a few like The Verge, and Inc.com; not to mention that there is not enough of a variety of sources either. So I will probably end up uninstalling it.
I just downloaded Fuse, and will see how that goes, but already, I'm seeing sources that I'm more familiar with.

I like that this reader actually shows the whole article instead of partiall yand then have to click to open in browser . Have this issue with nextgen for wpcentral and also profootballtalk.
On weave, so far, all articles are shown in full and the fact you can click on media now, awesome.

Im cheap still, so i can't dish the $10. Thanks for the ad supported availability. Apps looks great and it is nice and smooth.

Hmm, i never had issues with rebooting phone, i dled weave and my phone has rebooted twice now on its own. I did a hard reset (volume and middle button held down). Hpefuly it doesn't reboot again.

anybody else had their phone rebooted?

Anybody know how to save feeds? if i uninstall weave and reinstall, how can i configure the app as it was prior to removing? I know there is a google reader sign in, but that doesn't seem work as it wont le tme log in .

Il buy it if it's good, but I have a question about RSS. Is there different types of RSS because my daily news site I read don't work in Weave WP7 version? Is there maybe a language barrier? I get a no connection error when trying to add this http://allehanda.se/1.4765854

I have to install NextGen Reader but I loved it on WP7. It was my RSS reader of choice.
I tried weave but didn't like it too much to go for the ad-free version. I will install these two again and see how much they have improved in the past two months (since I got my 8X).

I much prefer Feed Reader. That app shows me the number of unread stories in each individual feed. In Weave, I can go to one of my Subject Groups (I.e., Music) but then can't select the individual feed I want to read there (I.e., Rolling Stone). I just see stories for all the feeds I have organized into that group. Am I missing something in Weave?